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Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Review ~ Dead Star Island by Andrew Shantos

Alliance Publishing Press
2015

Sixteen superstars the world thinks are dead. One killer, determined to
finish the job.

It's an intriguing idea, the
story of a hideaway island where the great and good can disappear when their
'real' lives get too much for them. Faking their deaths and living on Dead Star
Island, a remote tropical paradise, has worked for decades, and it would appear
that John and Elvis, Marilyn and Diana, and a whole host of long cherished
celebrities, find some sort of peace in obscurity. But all is not as idyllic as
it first appears, and when a ruthless killer appears to be picking them off and
murdering them one by one in a bizarre reconstruction of their original staged
deaths, trouble flourishes in paradise. Enticed into investigating this bizarre
crime scene, Mario Gunzabo, a one armed alcoholic with an unusual modus operandi,
finds that the hidden secrets of the island and the narcissistic qualities of its
celebrity guests, makes for a rather unusual crime investigation.

When I first read the précis for Dead Star
Island, I was rather taken with the idea that world weary celebrities could
choose to fake their deaths in order to escape a life which had become media intolerable.
The idea that Marilyn and Diana were sitting close together on an island
paradise was a strangely comforting thought. Less comforting, however, was the
idea that these darling celebrities were being picked off one by one, like sitting ducks.

I was very soon absorbed into the
whole concept of Dead Star Island, so believable is the idea that I really
wanted this nirvana to actually exist. However, the important thing to remember
is that this is beautifully written fiction; it’s well plotted, with a real
sense of style and more than a hint of the downright bizarre, but when all is
added together, the story really works, and works very well.

. The mystery at the heart of the
novel is intriguing, and whilst it is all very entertaining with Gunzabo at
the head of the investigation, what mustn't be forgotten, is that this is also a rather dark,
twisted and highly energetic murder mystery.

This original and quirky debut novel is
a real hidden gem and, I'm sure, heralds the start of an interesting writing career for
its talented author.